Firework Cicatrix
by carnifax
Summary: RoyGarth/SpAqua. July 4th has rolled around again. Roy is excited. Garth is having a panic attack.


**Agliophobia**

By Carnifax  
Teen Titans  
Garth-Roy  
Rated T  
Friendship/Romance  
_July 4th has rolled around again. Roy is excited. Garth is having a panic attack._

In the spirit of things, I wrote a Fourth of July one-shot. I don't particularly like it as a whole, but some bits make me giggle. After a once-through edit job and a sort of "Well, it's not going to get any better..." ideology, this is what you get. And I am _so_ open to better titles...

* * *

The thirty Titans that had shown up were nearly done setting up the roof—grill, lawn chairs and all—when Roy realized that someone was missing. He sat upright in his hammock, searching for a black-and-blue blob of Atlantean prince. 

"Looking for someone?"

Roy squinted against the nearly-set sun. "Oh, hey Robin, hey Star. Yeah, I was looking for Fishfa—Aqualad. It's not like him to be antisocial."

"Perhaps he is inside the Tower, bringing up the desserts?"

Speedy nodded slightly, although he knew all the food had already been brought to the roof. It had been mass chaos in the little kitchen and one of the twins started crying—Mas lost Menos in the crowd and nearly got stepped on.

"Maybe I'll go look for him," Roy said, more to himself than anything; the golden pair had already walked away toward Kid Flash, who was sporting a rather unhappy Jinx on his arm.

It took three laps around the Tower to finally find the dark-haired teen. He wasn't in the control center, the garage, any of the training rooms or practice courses, the upper deck of the main room—even the pool sensors didn't detect him.

So Roy took off toward the _last_ place the Atlantean would be: his own room. When the door slid open, the archer was startled to see his out-of-uniform teammate pacing back and forth, brow slick with nervous sweat.

Speedy watched him for a moment, unnoticeable from the door frame. "Oi, Fishstick?"

Garth jumped, a mess of jumbled Atlantean spilling from his mouth in surprise. He spun toward the door and flushed, purple eyes angry, lips set into a tight line. "Gods, Roy, _never_ sneak up on me!"

"You're a little tense," the redhead observed, intruding farther into the room. He plopped down on the bed and, collapsing onto his back, threw a pillow at Garth. "Why aren't you up on the roof? The sun's setting, so the food will be ready in about three minutes and show will start in a half hour."

"I'm not coming," Aqualad grunted. He joined Roy on the bed, sitting on the adjacent edge.

"Don't you want to see the fireworks?"

"No."

Speedy's thought-out retort fell mute on his tongue at the resolute reply. "Well… why not?"

"I hate fireworks."

"But you came last… oh." Roy remembered the previous year's Fourth of July celebration perfectly, but couldn't remember the Atlantean ever showing. Actually, he couldn't remember a single Fourth of July that Garth _had_ attended. "Why?"

"Under the ocean—at least, where I lived—you can feel the vibrations really clearly. I don't know what they're from, the vibrations, but they freaked me out. And the fireworks themselves are scary. It sounds like something's screaming, and both the light and the sound get mottled through the waves." He became silent, thinking. "It's so… unnatural.""

"Well, you're on land now—"

"And it's worse up here. Every year before, I've always gone to the deepest part of the bay to get away from it. But this bay isn't that deep, and something about the rocky bottom makes the sounds louder. It echoes instead of being absorbed by mud and plants."

Roy toyed with a frayed string he found on the comforter. "But this year…?"

"I know it'll just be worse down there, and I know I should celebrate with the team. Especially because everyone showed up—I mean, I knew the normal people were coming, but Kole and her partner, what's-his-name, even showed! Pantha, too—I thought she was in Austria—and Jinx had an appearance thanks to Wally… and then there's that kiddie team, and the Herald and Jericho—"

"I get it, I get it," Roy interrupted, chuckling. "There are a lot of people here. You want to celebrate with them. But?"

Garth sighed and hung his head. "But fireworks… aren't my thing."

"You're scared of them?" Speedy guessed with a laugh.

"Well…" His hand absently rubbed the back of his neck; the tips of his ears reddened. "Yeah…"

"You'll get over it. Come on, it's not so bad, you'll see." Roy hopped to his feet, grabbing Garth's arm and dragging him into the hallway. "Trust me, you'll survive _one_ show of fireworks."

Aqualad gave up the struggle after a few seconds, obediently walking up the roof-access stairs. Roy kicked open the door with a flourish, gesturing wildly and grinning.

And then a loud screech whistled from close by, a _BOOM_ and then a fading crackle. Garth froze where he was, eyes wide, and instantly fled back down the stairs.

Speedy leapt after him, but the Atlantean was well on his way toward the main room. "Shit! Fishsti—Aqualad! _Aqualad_!" He caught the teen's arm and Garth ripped away without as much as a backward glance. "_Aqualad_!" he barked, groping for him again.

"Stop it—I'll go to the bay—it's worse up _here_, I think—"

"Garth!" Roy's hand clamped down on Aqualad, grip unmoving. He turned, slamming him against the wall, trying to hold the squirming prince still. "Calm down!"

"Let me"—he twisted one way, then the other—"_go_!"

"Not a chance," Speedy growled. "You're scaring me. I'm not letting you off this wall until you stop your freak-out."

Garth swallowed hard, struggling in vain to free himself. After a time, his labored breath slowly returned to normal, pulse no longer hammering through his veins.

"You good?" Roy asked. Garth nodded; the archer loosened his grip, still keeping a slight hold on his arm.

"I'm _fine_."

Speedy clicked his tongue, shaking his head. "That's doubtful. What're you so afraid of? You _can't_ say that fourteen years of hearing fireworks from under the sea merits _that_ much panic."

Aqualad took a breath in, so deep that his gills fluttered in subconscious effort. His eyes fell to the floor, musing on something, and when he looked up Roy hadn't moved.

"I got curious," Garth finally said, and shook off Roy's grip. "It was soon after I was banished—I was young, really young. And I always heard the fireworks and saw them, and _god knows_ I felt them, so… like I said, I got curious. I wanted to see what was going on at the surface. So I went up, saw the fireworks… and then," he said, reaching for the sleeve of his t-shirt, "one of the fireworks went awry. It happens a lot, apparently, with a certain type—but it just came flying toward me and I couldn't get out of the way."

He pushed the sleeve up, baring his shoulder, looking down at the mottled skin. "I tried to shield myself"—he mimed putting his hand by his face, turning sideways—"but it didn't help much. See, my arm's scarred too."

Roy took the proffered forearm, holding it in one hand as the other hand's fingers ran over the pinkish, raised splotch. He moved his hands to Garth's shoulder, inspecting at the larger discoloration until he realized Aqualad was shaking.

He twitched away awkwardly. "That's what you're afraid of? Being hurt again?"

Garth nodded, abashed. "I know they took that firework off the market after a while because it was dangerous, but… still. Mental scars are bigger than physica—"

"Speedy? Aquala—oh!" Bee chimed, coming from the roof. "There you are. Dinner's on, if you're hungry."

"Thanks, we'll be up in a sec," Speedy answered, raising a hand. She smiled and trotted back up the stairs.

"'We' will not be doing anything," Garth corrected, glaring half-heartedly at the redhead. "_You_ will 'be up in a sec.' _I_ will _not_."

"Oh, really?" Roy once again secured a grip on Garth and started to drag him toward the roof.

"Roy, _stop_," he began, eyes pleading, _begging_ for the archer to let him go. "_Please_."

"You're nearly an adult! What if your kids want to go see the fireworks?"

"I won't have kids!"

Roy yanked him up the first four stairs. "What if _my_ kids want to go see the fireworks?"

"I don't care!"

The next three steps were harder, but Speedy managed to get him up them. "What if Bee's kids want to go see the fireworks?"

"According to you, 'no one will ever want to reproduce with that thing'!"

Roy grinned and stopped pulling. But then his face grew solemn, sincere; his unmasked eyes looked painfully sad without effort. "What if _I_ want to go see the fireworks?"

Garth narrowed his eyes. "I can't tell if you're serious." Seconds ticked by, and with every one part of the dark-haired prince's resolve deteriorated. After what seemed like forever, he grunted out a solid, "_Fine_."

A grin jumped back to Speedy's face as he led the way up to the roof. "It'll be okay, I promise!"

—

After dinner, a single, white firecracker started the mass light show over the bay. Roy sat through the first three minutes of it in sheer awe, only noticing Garth's absence after Melvin shouted out, "It looks like a fish!"

Speedy shot upright, searching for the Atlantean. He ignored the _ooh_s and _whoa_s, and pushing off the hammock he sidled toward the back of the crowd. A dark, hunched silhouette sat propped against the ventilation system.

"Sitting back here alone?" Roy asked over the fireworks, taking a seat on the ground beside his stiff teammate.

"So I don't look like an idiot if I freak out again," Garth explained, a terse smile stretching his lips.

Roy didn't answer; the two sat there—archer relaxed, Atlantean unbearably tense—in silence and watched the show. As hints of the finale made the displays more colorful, the displays also became louder, and Aqualad's knuckles turned whiter.

Speedy saw the whiteness and quirked a brow, slightly unnerved by the fact that Aqualad was shaking and clutching his scars, consciously or not. He reached over—Garth jumped at the touch—and grabbed the closest arm. Aqualad jerked away, holding both arms close to his body, shooting Roy a glare.

But the archer persisted; he smiled harmlessly, and then slowly took Garth's arm again. He threaded his fingers through trembling aquatic ones, ignoring the webbing between them, and held the intertwined hands up for Garth to see.

Confusion passed through the Atlantean's expression, held for a moment with pain and fear. And then Aqualad smiled, a break in the clouds, and he took a deep breath. 'Thank you,' he mouthed. Biting his lip, he rested his head on the cool metal, watching the colors fly through the sky.

Roy dropped their hands, giving Garth's a light, comforting squeeze. He would always remember the first Fourth of July he actually celebrated; it was with the Green Arrow, back when he was nine. As the finale lit up the sky, he wondered if Garth would remember his own first fireworks.

* * *

T'omg, a pun! (That last "fireworks"... get it? Get it?) 

"Nice Roy" is annoying. I love my "insensitive, I'm-an-idiot, eternally-confused-and-troubled Roy"... And (gasp!) I don't think he swore more than once!

Was this romance? Was it friendship? Considering the pun... one-sided? (I really don't know.)

Anyway, **HAPPY FOURTH!**

Now, _review_. :3


End file.
